Crossbones
Crossbones is a Neo-Nazi supervillain from Marvel comics who often works as a henchman for the Red Skull, his childhood idol, - as a result he is one of Captain America's more recurring enemies and was infamous for his part in the apparent death of Captain America following the events of the Marvel Civil War. He is an extremely skilled street fighter and an expert marksman, wielding a powerful, collapsible crossbow as a main weapon, with many other guns, knives, and explosives on his person. Crossbones has some similarities to Bane, being a muscular thug who wears a mask - however he is much more of a racist than Bane and is loyal to the Red Skull to the end: his name is somewhat of a reference to the popular phrase "skull and crossbones": further solidifying his partnership with the Red Skull and animosity with Captain America. ''History'' Origin Young Brock Rumlow led the Savage Crims gang on New York's lower east side. After he brutalized fifteen year old Rachel Leighton, two of her brothers assaulted Brock; the elder of whom was killed. Rumlow fled, entering the Taskmaster's school for criminals, and within three years he became an instructor there under the name Bingo Brock. As a mercenary, he enlisted with the communist Red Skull (Albert Malik) in Algeria, serving him as "Frag" until he was sent to invade Arnim Zola's Switzerland chateau. Ultimately the only team member to survive the assault, Rumlow there met and impressed the Nazi Red Skull (Johann Schmidt); this Skull accepted Brock’s services, code-naming him “Crossbones.” Sent to retrieve the five Bloodstone fragments of Ulysses Bloodstone, Crossbones shadowed Baron Helmut Zemo's search for them. While Zemo battled Captain America, Crossbones knocked out Captain America's pilot, John Jameson, and stole two Bloodstone fragments; when he got near the other three, the five combined to re-animate Baron Heinrich Zemo's corpse under control of the alien Hellfire Helix. Unobserved, Crossbones destroyed the Helix (worn on the corpse's forehead) with a crossbow bolt. Brock then kidnapped Captain America's ally Diamondback (whom he recognized as Rachel Leighton), using her as bait to trap Captain America; but when the Skull learned of Crossbones' involvement with the Captain, he ordered Crossbones to flee. The Skull's Assassin Crossbones recruited the Controller and Voice to serve the Skull, led the Skeleton Crew against the Hellfire Club’s Selene, and, using psychic Tristan Micawber, located the Skull after Magneto had kidnapped him. Crossbones later attempted assassinating the Kingpin, was stopped by Typhoid Mary, and battled Bullseye when the Kingpin retaliated. Crossbones led the Skeleton Crew when they were captured by the Schutz-Heiligruppe (Blitzkrieg, Hauptmann Deutschland, Zeitgeist); after Arnim Zola rescued them, the Skull faked the assassination of himself, Mother Night, and Crossbones. The Red Skull finally fired Crossbones for questioning the Skull's decision to ally with the Viper. Crossbones headed east, working briefly in Chicago for drug lord Marco Sanzionare against Superpro. In New York, Crossbones kidnapped and brainwashed Diamondback by abusing her repeatedly and forcing her through a rigid combat training routine. Forcing Diamondback to steal Captain America's Super Soldier Serum treated blood from Avengers Mansion, Crossbones returned to the Skull. When the Skeleton Crew's new leader, Cutthroat (Diamondback's brother Daniel), plotted Crossbones’ murder, Mother Night warned Brock, who slit Cutthroat's jugular. Diamondback escaped, summoning Captain America and the Falcon to capture the Skull’s operatives; Crossbones was imprisoned, but eventually convinced officials he was rehabilitating, partly by defeating the terrorist cell "Fortress" when they invaded a Denver hospital. Exploiting his jailors’ gullibility, Crossbones escaped, and was hired by Hydra to bomb New York's embassy row alongside the Absorbing Man, but the pair was stopped by Captain America. Betrayed by Hydra, Crossbones fled, wreaking vengeance on his bosses. Crossbones was hired by New Son to assassinate Gambit, but despite allying with Batroc and Zaran, was defeated by the combined efforts of New Orleans' Assassins' and Thieves’ guilds. The Death of Captain America The Skull promptly rehired him, and he was aiding in re-powering a Cosmic Cube when Aleksander Lukin’s Winter Soldier assassinated the Red Skull and stole the Cube. Lukin anonymously blamed Captain America for the Skull’s death, but Crossbones soon realized the truth and began hunting Lukin. He continued to go through with the Skull's plans, running an offshoot branch of AIM, and kidnapping and brainwashing Sin (Synthia Schmidt), the daughter of the Red Skull. The Red Skull eventually proved to have used the Cosmic Cube while dying to transfer his mind into Lukin's body. During the superhero Civil War, he orchestrated the assassination of his longtime arch-foe, Captain America. The plan involved Sharon Carter of SHIELD, one of Cap's closest allies, being brainwashed by Doctor Faustus into shooting him at close range. This was supplemented by shots fired by a sniper, specifically Crossbones. He was soon captured by SHIELD. While in custody, he was interrogated by Wolverine and Daredevil, who had sneaked aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier aided by the magic of Doctor Strange. Luke Cage's Thunderbolt He was recruited to be a new member of the Thunderbolts led by Luke Cage, and was participating in the assaults on the New York fortress of the Hand. While on a mission in New Guinea he breathed in the Terrigen Mist and gained energy blast powers. While on a mission with the Avengers, Brock, Juggernaut and Ghost threw off the teleportation signal and ended up in a different dimension together with the Avengers. Brock attempted to kill Captain America but he was thrown into a strange pool of water that reversed the effects of the Terrigen Mist and cost him his powers. After the mission he was taken off the Thunderbolts and returned to incarceration. Working for the Man During his time in custody, Crossbones was sent to an isolated island that was hit by a terrible virus outbreak. Brock was sent in with one objective: rescue the one person who may possess the resistance to the virus. Heavily armed, Brock eventually meets a camp of survivors on the island. It turns out the individual is just a boy, and Brock betrays the survivors by letting the monsters (who are essentially werewolves) into their base. Brock battles a few, snapping their necks and withstanding a handful of claw attacks before reaching his evacuation helicopter with the child. But, Brock betrays his employers by pushing the boy out of the helicopter, sending him falling to his death. Ends of the Earth Crossbones was seen in one of Doctor Octopus' facilities. Sabra fights her way past some Octobots until Crossbones shoots her. The Fearless Sin is now in search of the missing hammers and other mystical weapons. As her lover and right-hand man, Crossbones is now globe-trotting to find these items. This journey has taken him to France, underwater, face-to-face with Namor, and, most recently, he took down Luke Cage while wearing one of the gauntlets he retrieved. Previews reveal this former Captain America foe will soon face-off with famous X-Man, Wolverine. When Juggernaut became one of the Worthy and destroyed the Raft, Crossbones seized his chance to escape. He worked with Man Mountain Marko to escape, and repaid his kindness by murdering him. Crossbones then went on the run, teaming up with Sin, the new Red Skull, and fighting Valkyrie and the Avengers. In a brutal fight with Wolverine, Crossbones was critically injured, but was healed by Daimon Hellstrom. Crossbones and Sin then joined the D.O.A. Mania While hunting hell-marks through the country, Crossbones killed and skinned one of the many copies of Daimon Hellstrom. Along with the D.O.A., Crossbones targeted Mania as she had received the hell-mark that was once of Venom along with her symbiote. After battling Venom and Mania, who had used the demons that Master Mayhem had summoned to attack them, he and some members of the D.O.A. vanished. His current whereabouts remain unknown. Powers and abilities Although Crossbones does not have any superhuman powers, he is still a very dangerous combatant; he kills lesser superheroes and villains with ease and has gone toe-to-toe with Captain America on a number of occasions. Crossbones is one of the world's best hand-to-hand combatants, with extensive training in street-fighting, military combatives, various forms of martial arts, and is a student of the Taskmaster. Physically, Crossbones is tall and very heavily muscled, but moves with an athletic grace uncommon for a man of his bulk. He is a skilled pilot and driver. In addition, he's an expert marksman with guns, bows, and throwing knives. Crossbones usually arms himself with a fighting knife and a small collapsible crossbow, and various throwing daggers, and spring-loaded stiletto blades in his gauntlets. He also has some experience with torture and brainwashing, having effectively "reprogrammed" Sin and nearly so with Diamondback. As a member of the Thunderbolts, Crossbones was exposed to corrupted Terrigen Mists during a mission, and shortly after manifested the ability to generate a circle of energy in front of his face which could fire energy beams capable of piercing and burning his targets. The ability developed to the point where flames engulfed the entirety of his head while still allowing him to fire focused energy beams, though these flames could seemingly be doused in water. While his power is active, Crossbones does not appear to be entirely impervious to the flames he generates; after the flames died following his first usage, his mask appeared to have been burnt away and his face was heavily scarred. Other versions ''House of M: Masters of Evil'' In the House of M reality, Crossbones appeared as a member of Hood's extensive Masters of Evil. Before the Red Guard attacked Santo Rico, Crossbones left the team alongside, Cobra, Mister Hyde, and Thunderball. ''Heroes Reborn'' Crossbones appears in the Heroes Reborn reality, as a partner/enforcer for the Red Skull and Master Man's World Party. This version also gets mutated by gamma radiation to combat Falcon and Captain America. He is killed by Rebel O'Reilly. ''Captain America: The Winter Soldier'' Crossbones (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Crossbones appears in Captain America The Winter Soldier as the seconday antagonist. He starts out as the leader of the S.H.I.E.L.D. STRIKE team working closely with Captain America and Black Widow. But as the movie progresses, Crossbones is revealed to be working with HYDRA and former head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Alexander Pierce on Operation: Insight. 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